1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to the area of computer-facilitated communications over networks, and more particularly related to method and system for electronically engaging customers for multiple business entities. In one aspect, the present invention is a customer operations platform (CustomerOps platform) that captures various activities a registered or unregistered user has interacted with a designated computer application (e.g., a website with webpages, a desktop program or a mobile app) and assists the business of the designated application in engaging a targeted subset of users whenever there is a need. Such a CustomerOps platform also facilitates efficient and more relevant human or automated assistance when the user desires to get engaged with the business that operates the designated application.
2. Description of the Related Art
The Internet is a data communication network of interconnected computers and computer networks around the world and has been rapidly evolving to the point where it combines elements of telecommunications, computing, broadcasting, publishing, commerce, and information services into a revolutionary new business infrastructure. The economy on the Internet is growing in every aspect of life, from buying small items (e.g., stationary) to big items (e.g., vehicles and houses) to trading stocks and ordering services, all via the Internet.
Many traditional businesses, such as local restaurants and clinics, are now all operating online, hoping to grow their businesses by attracting more people to their businesses. Some businesses operate not only in a locale but also is expanding virtually everywhere in the world via the Internet. For a business to increase its profitability, gain its market share, deliver what its customers want and retain repeated customers, an efficient way to facilitate engagement with customers based on known data and attributes about the customer is vital to the business. Such a practice targeted at customers is referred to herein as customer operations (a.k.a., CustomerOps).
Businesses, small or large, need CustomerOps. The success of CustomerOps is not limited to how a customer in electronic commerce is served when there is a need. A CustomerOps platform, in a broad sense, is the use of computer networks to improve organizational performance of a business. It involves all aspects of electronic interactions of an organization with its customers, the people who determine the future of the organization. In brief, A CustomerOps platform involves the use of information technology to engage, enhance communications and transactions with all of its users, regardless of whether or not the users are registered or unregistered.
A CustomerOps platform is difficult to design and costly to operate. Big companies have the resources to engage a special team to design special software to support their own version of CustomerOps, but such specialized CustomerOps solutions are not transferable. That means no other business can reuse the development effort. A small business in reality would not have the resources to develop a specially-designed platform to support their customers. They are often handicapped in customer engagement when competing with their larger competitors on the Internet.
Accordingly, there is a need for a customer engagement platform that can be used by a business, small or large alike, to support its own CustomerOps. Different businesses shall have different types of CustomerOps. Thus there is still another need for a customer engagement platform that is generic enough to support many forms of electronic commerce. Depending on the type of electronic commerce, ways to communicate with customers are different. Thus there is still another need for a customer support platform that is generic enough to support different ways of communication with the customers. These various communication mediums are referred to herein as channels.
Email is a popular communication tool users often use to communicate with a business. For example, a user may want to buy a volume for an interesting item and decide to send an email message to a seller (i.e., a website thereof) inquiring a volume discount. Should collected interaction data indicate that the user has been looking up the item extensively, a decision to offer a discount for a volume order would be justified to quickly close the transaction.
Social networks, such as Facebook (www.facebook.com) and Twitter (www.twitter.com), are becoming prevalent platforms for many businesses to expand their presence among new or their existing users. A traditional CustomerOps solution to support a business would lose its advantages when dealing with the social network data and communications, where the medium for user engagement is no longer controlled by the business. Thus there is still another need for a mechanism that is capable of capturing possible interactions of users with a business page/account on a social network. In addition, businesses now often have many non-web application based presences. These include applications for mobile or other hardware devices. Along with more traditional mediums like SMS and voice, businesses have a myriad of channels that they need to juggle. The need for a CustomerOps solution that enables a business to gather and correlate user data amongst all possible touch points and re-engage users at the right channel is a major pain point for many businesses.